FORMER president Rodrigo Duterte is not keen on being named the antidrug czar by his successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

During an interview with Pastor Apollo Quiboloy Wednesday night, Duterte said that addressing the drug problem is a “matter of leadership.” “Mukhang hindi na rin tama (I don’t think it’s right), Pastor, because there is the President duly elected and it is his duty to enforce the law and solve crimes,” Duterte said when asked if he would consider working for the Marcos administration as an antidrug czar.

“Let us give Marcos the greatest elbow room to do his job in just one year,” he said.

It was Duterte’s close ally, Sen. Christopher Lawrence “Bong” Go, who floated the idea during a Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs hearing on the

controversial P6.7-billion shabu haul in Manila on May 23.

Go asked Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Benjamin Acorda Jr. if appointing Duterte as anti-drug czar will boost the campaign against illegal drugs.

Acorda replied that he would be “supportive” of any efforts to curb the proliferation of illegal drugs.

Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa, who served as PNP chief during the Duterte administration, also backed the call, saying it will bring back fear to policemen and criminal syndicates involved in the illegal drug trade.

Last April, the International Criminal Court (ICC) said Duterte “encouraged” the drug war, which killed thousands of individuals allegedly engaged in drug trafficking.

The following month, the ICC released another report, saying that the families of drug war victims doubt if their cases could progress under the Marcos administration.

Duterte pulled the Philippines out of the ICC in 2019, a year after The Hague-based tribunal began a preliminary probe into the drug crackdown that he ordered.

Marcos has ruled out reversing Duterte’s decision to leave the ICC. Since Duterte took office in 2016, more than 6,000 were killed in anti-drug operations, based on government figures. But rights groups estimated the actual number could be as high as 30,000.